Pharmacological properties are often dependent on a particular stereochemistry and thus the resolution of a racemic mixture of carboxylic acids is a useful chemical process. However the resolution process besides yielding the desired enantiomer also gives the nondesired enantiomer. It would be desirable in a commercial process to racemize the nondesired enantiomer to a racemic mixture which can then be reemployed in the resolution process.
Ruechardt et al. have reported the racemization of aryl and aryloxycarboxylic acids using acetic anhydride and pyridine, see for example Ruechardt, Gartner and Salz, Chem. Int. Ed. Eng., 23, 162 (1984). It would be beneficial to have a commercially useful racemization procedure that did not employ pyridine and in which the racemizing reagents are employed in catalytic amounts.